


red goes the farthest

by keelahselai



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Axel Got Norted, Gen, Roleswap, implied akusai, maybe ill add more bleh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 07:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16113905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelahselai/pseuds/keelahselai
Summary: 2489 days had passed since Saix’s one friend had begun drifting away and against all odds, he’d managed to make another in only 255 days.





	red goes the farthest

**Author's Note:**

> boy howdy do i love me some roleswap

255 days. It had been 255 days on the dot since Roxas had joined the Organization.

Saix knew Roxas had been keeping track himself, though he didn’t commit it to memory for the younger boy’s sake. He only knew it had been 255 days because the day Roxas had joined happened to be day 2234 since Axel had changed.

255 days since their thirteenth member joined. 256 days since Axel had informed him he was assigned to babysit Roxas, 256 days since his primary mission was to _make friends._

Sora had been heavily driven by friendship. It stood reason to believe Roxas wouldn’t be any different.

On the contrary, Isa hadn’t been one to make friends easily and Saix was only worse on that front. He’d had one real bond and let himself squander it.

No, he wasn’t bitter.

“Saix? What’s wrong?” Roxas peered over at him, concern laced in his brows. And for all the worlds out there, it really did look like he _was_ concerned.

But they were both Nobodies, and the very idea of feeling anything was laughable.

Saix shrugged. “I’m just thinking too hard.”

“You’re always thinking too hard,” Roxas laughed, lightly pushing him teasingly. 

“Someone has to.” He gave the boy a wry look. His scar bunched awkwardly with the expression; the muscles in his upper face didn’t quite know what to do with such a large mass of scar tissue and Saix never was sure if he was actually going through the motions of an expression. “Some of us have to think and not just stare at a chest like a mannequin.”

Saix smirked at Roxas’ anguished groan as he yanked his hood up to hide his face in embarrassment. “That was my first day, leave me alone!” he whined.

“Opening a box isn’t as revolutionary as you think, Roxas,” he deadpanned.

“Just push me off the clock tower instead, why don’t you?”

“Because you’re-”

_My friend._

Saix faltered mid sentence.

“-not getting off that easily,” he finished lamely, and they both knew it.

Roxas gave him a long look before pulling his hood down with renewed concern. “Okay, you’re really weird today, what’s actually wrong?”

Saix averted his gaze, staring instead at a fixed spot hundreds of feet below. It didn’t help. “Do you know why the sun sets red?”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“I’m not.” Saix sighed. “When I was whole, I was interested in science. I read in a book that light can be perceived as a rainbow of different colors, and we see sunsets are red because...” His mouth dried. “...on the light spectrum, red always goes the farthest.”

“Are you thinking about when you were a person?”

“Something like that.”

Roxas was quiet for a moment. “What were you like?”

“Hm?” He looked back at him, taken off guard in his reverie of regrets he’d caught himself slipping into.

“What were you like? When you were a person, what was your name?”

“That wasn’t _me,_ that was a Somebody loosely connected to me at best,” he corrected him almost subconsciously. A dull, Pavlovian ache resonated from the cross of his scar and he rubbed at the bridge of his nose to help it dissipate. “Get it-”

Saix sighed again, ignoring memories of a lazy, golden-eyed smirk.

“Get that straight. But when I was whole, I was...” Saix struggled a moment to find the words. “Happy, I suppose. Not exactly what you see here, but I had a heart and that absence is what sets us aside from everyone else.”

“I’m having a hard time picturing you as anything without a stick up your butt,” Roxas cracked, actually managing a quiet snort of laughter from Saix.

“I never said I didn’t.”

It was Roxas’ turn to laugh.

“I don’t remember anything from before, but...” he bit his lip, deep in thought. “I like to think that we would’ve been friends before, too. As people.”

“If it’s any consolation, I think we would have too.” The sun was beginning to disappear over the horizon, sunset a fiery display of dying light. “When we get our hearts back, we’ll know for sure.”

“Now you sound like Axel,” Roxas rolled his eyes. “Are you gonna tell me to ‘just go nuts on a bunch of heartless’ before the mission tomorrow too?”

“No, I’m making a promise.” Possessed by a sudden sense of urgency, Saix turned to face him more fully. “When we have hearts, we’ll still be friends.”

Roxas grinned. “Of course we will, who else is gonna buy me ice cream?”

Saix snorted and lightly pushed him away. “Here I am trying to be serious and you toss a joke at me. I rescind my promise.”

“You’re _always_ serious, no takebacks. Looks like we’ll just have to keep being friends.”

“Unfortunately.”

2489 days had passed since Saix’s one friend had begun drifting away and against all odds, he’d managed to make another in only 255 days.


End file.
